Then, he displayed people’s submissions on the screen and the team guessed who is who just from the three brands. It’s fun to identify people, plus everyone gets to share something about themselves. You’ll definitely learn a lot of interesting stuff about each other. Depending on the setup you’re in, divide your colleagues icebreakers for virtual meetings into smaller groups (if you’re in an online setup, use breakout rooms) and ask them to discuss their struggles. This fun game is great for introducing new colleagues or getting to know each other better. Collect three statements about each of your colleagues – two of them should be true facts and one should be a lie.
With groups where trust is high, ask each team member to share one of the most recent photographs on their phone and tell a story about it. Next, ask everyone to add a coloured dot to each dimension based on whether they’re crushing it or have room to improve. It can be MODIFIED to work with any group and/or topic (just change the questions). Creating a sentence relating to a specific topic or problem with each person contributing one word at a time. Get to know the other members of your team and share something interesting about yourself in this quick energiser activity. Next, allow all groups a couple of minutes to discuss the topic before coming back to the main room to share what each pair talked about.
Take a Picture of Your Shoes
An ice breaker at the start of a meeting is a great way to encourage group members to be present and get things started on the right foot. Effective opening activities energize everyone, helping them ‘arrive’ mentally and leave behind whatever task or thought they were previously working on. This activity from Gamestorming works great because it lets people self-define and share their personality outside of their day-to-day work. When you draw each block, read the question out loud & answer before placing the piece on the top of the tower. This can ignite exciting conversations about everyday topics like favorite downtime activities to more in-depth stuff, like career and self-development goals.
Using icebreaker questions at the beginning of virtual calls is one of the best ways to create a relaxed environment for your team. As people introduce themselves, ask them to pick a 1-2 minute anecdote that was embarrassing for them in the past, and what they learned from the experience. This offers teammates a way to share a personal (and probably funny) story without much risk, and gives everyone a chance to talk about not only themselves but their friends. Have everyone introduce themselves, and then share a short (1-2 minute) origin story behind one of their friendships. For this exercise, have your team introduce themselves and then describe one dish that they love, and what it means to them. This is an easy way to get people talking, and again offers insight into people’s personal history, likes and dislikes, and even ways of working.
Rock Paper Scissors Tournament
When working remotely, our attention is often split between windows, laundry and what meeting is coming after this. Connection is harder in a virtual environment where it’s more challenging to fully engage with others or easily read body language. If you’ve ever experienced the real thing, you surely know that it’s as much fun as it is nerve-wracking! It involves dealing with various challenges, finding codes, and completing puzzles in order to “get out of the room”. When was the last time you randomly bumped into someone in a hallway in your office and shared a good chat with them? Or, had a deep conversation about life, the universe, and everything with a bunch of colleagues in a kitchenette or by the watercooler?
- Or you might unearth some fascinating coincidence, like all of your parents went to high school in California.
- Moreover, it helps you pick up on subtle cues on how an attendee is doing.
- What is my name is one of those icebreaker games for work that is easy to set up and get going and is fun for all involved.
- With this activity the participants get to know each other on a deeper level.
- Start by getting the whole team on camera and ask everyone to observe other team members closely.
- 💡 Tip
Don’t forget to give people enough time to think about their story and prepare for the short presentation.
Knowing and feeling comfortable with your guests can also help calm those nerves. The participant who locates the most required items within the timeframe or shows each item on screen first wins the round. This Zoo Line-up icebreaker is best combined with introductions.
Name Game
Ask everyone to turn on their mics or answer in chat when you call out a space that applies to them. Everyone can submit their answers with a web form or in the chat while you’re discussing the potential within each team member. Your team members might attend trivia night in their hometowns or play it with their families. Get everyone to mention a topic they could excel at in a trivia contest. The team will instantly get to know each other, and you can collect topic ideas for a team trivia challenge later in the year.
Using only this equipment and their ingenuity, the participants must work together to build a tower that is as high as possible so that they can beat the other teams. Get everyone to take turns to share their picture with the person sitting to their right. Take this to the next level by asking them to share their partner’s picture and its meaning to the wider group. This is an excellent problem-solving and team-building activity, and is great for getting everyone relaxed and loosened up. No names can be repeated and if answers aren’t given in five seconds that player is out.
These virtual icebreakers work for both hybrid and online events. Alternatively, use these ice breaker activities to boost employee engagement at a company. Before engaging in an online brainstorming session, use this game to inspire creativity among your team. Alternatively, make this a weekly virtual meeting icebreaker activity by selecting a different subject before your meetings.
